Sorcery

Heaven at that time was ruled by the Three Pure Ones, while the Jade Emperor was in deep meditation and overcoming many trials, cultivating his Dao. The Evil one too entered a state of meditation and undertook trials but emerged before the Jade Emperor (thinking his Dao to be sufficiently cultivated) and waged war on heaven. Half way through the war the Jade Emperor completed his meditation and emerged more powerful than the Evil One. He saw the battle and challenged the evil one and defeated him. The other 'demons' were then scattered by the other Gods and Immortals who then proclaimed the Jade Emperor as supreme sovereign of all.

All things have their proper place from the most noble Emperor and dragon to the least peasant and ant. As it is on Earth so too in Heaven and Hell; the Jade Emperor sits at the pinnacle of the divine order and so on down the celestial order to the least spirit of land and hearth. Those who work within the proper order, who petition the gods and spirits who carry out their appointed duties, can perform might works of magic.

There are those spirits who reject their place within the proper order of things, base rebels who have turned their backs upon the duties appointed to them. Such spirits seek to usurp their betters and steal their power or simply shirk their divinely mandated tasks. These demons can be mighty too, though often corrupt and dangerous. It takes a different set of skills to cajole and bargain with such creatures. In Europe such people are referred to as sorcerers.

Sorcery Spell List

The Path of the Summoner

Adherents of the Path of the Summoner focus on summoning more and more powerful demons. While any Sorcerer can summon a fox-demon, Summoners focus on calling beings of greater potency and terror from the depths of Di-Yu, the Infernal Realm.

Summoning powerful demons without an appropriately strongly-warded Circle is rank folly, and the horror stories of unwary Summoners who attempted to raise devils beyond their control are numerous.

Summon the Fox-Demon

Summons a Fox-Demon (Hu-Li-Jing) from Hell. Fox-demons sour milk, colic babies, frighten cats and steal trinkets.

Fox-demons traditionally appear either in the form of an enchanted fox, nine tails is one very traditional form, or as a beautiful human (normally a woman). They thirst for the breath (the chi) of humans and are tricksome and will attempt to appeal either to a sorcerer's vanity or to attract them physically in order to acquire it. They are however weak and easy to compel.

Cost: 2AP

Ritual: After ritual preparation, the Sorcerer walks the outside of her circle three times widdershins. She then breaks the necks of each dove, recites the Ritual Chant and - should it be known - the exact name and nature of the Demon she wishes to summon. Once the blood of the doves anoints each of the seals, the Demon should begin to manifest.

Token: A pair of pure white doves.

Summon the Yaojing

Yaojing (妖精) are the basest sort of demons. The evil ones are usually referred to as guài (literally, “freak”) or mó (literally, “demon”) in Chinese. Their greatest goal is achieving immortality and thus deification. In the treatise Journey to the West the demons seek to acheive this by the abduction and consumption of the holy man Xuanzang. Yaojing congregate in the depths of Di-Yu, form

Yaojing are generally brutal, ignorant and with monstrous appearances (resembling twisted version of animals or repellent chimerae of man and beast). Sometimes unnaturally cunning and perceptive they are never truly intelligent.

And yet they are drawn from the same stock as the beautiful Hu Li Jing. The difference in their nature is the difference in the source of their power. Hu Li Jing have rebelled against the righteous authority of heaven but they have not forsaken all its, or their, principles. They abandon their duty and feed upon the breath of mortals through theft, trickery and subduction, but there are deeds they will not do. Yaojing have slipped such bounds; most particularly they feast upon the flesh of mortals, a richer source of power and a crime that Heaven cannot forgive. It reduces them to little more than terrifyingly powerful animals.

Cost: 2AP

Ritual: As Summon the Fox-Demon, but instead of prayer-strips annointed with the blood of doves, the characters of the spell are written upon strips torn from the cerecloth which are then dipped in spiritous liquors and set alight at the edge of the circle. It is generally advisable to place a recently slaughtered animal in the centre of the circle to keep the yaojing tractable.

Token: The cerecloth of a plague victim.

Summon the Guardians

All around the mountain
Ox−headed and horse−faced demons howl and roar;
Half hidden from view,
Hungry ghosts and desperate spirits sob to each other.
The judge who claims men's lives
Cannot wait to deliver the letter;
The marshal who chases souls,
Shouts and roars as he hastens along with his documents.
The swift−footed ones
Swirl along like a tornado;
The catchers of souls
Stand as thick as clouds.

Niu Tou (Ox-head) and Ma Mian (Horse-face) are amongst the guardians of Di Yu, they stand watch upon its gates and greet the dead. It is said that once they ventured more often to the mortal realms but that sent to capture the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, who beat and humiliated them so badly they fled back to Di Yu. There the Monkey King beat them soundly once more and crossed his name from the scrolls of the living, granting himself immortality.

Despite their embarrassing defeat the Guardians are still mighty indeed, surpassing the strength of the lesser yaojing in every way. They are also filled with pride and will not converse with all but the most favoured sorcerers in any tongue but their own. They know many secrets of the living and the dead and have the power to level temples and raise rivers.

The demons summoned through this ritual are more varied than its name implies however, it summons in general those demons less powerful than the great rulers of Di Yu. The greatest of yaojing, who have regained some sense of themselves and become more than animals though less than men, and who often set themselves up in petty kingdoms outside of civilisation are also encompassed within it.

Cost: 2 AP

Ritual: The sorcerer scribes out the 355 names of the greater gods upon a single long scroll of paper which she wraps round her chest. Once these wards have been placed the sorcerer's body and mind is protected from the ferocious gaze and awful power of the guardians. She throws the eyes of the dead man into the centre of the circle, where they will remain, suspended, while the Guardian or Yaojing slowly grows a body to support them. The demon will see through the eyes until such a time as it is abjured or finds more appropriate instruments to view the mortal realm.

Token: The eyes of a man (or woman) executed for failing to show appropriate respect to the Imperial Family.

Summon the Yama-King

Each of the ten Yama-Kings rules one of the Levels of Di Yu. They sit in great marble temples, waited on by Courts of the true demons and judge the dead. Each Yama King must decide how long the souls that reach its level must torments before it can pass on till eventually reaching the tenth and final where it is judged by the Emperor of Di Yu. The Yama Kings are not rebels against the rule of Heaven like the other demons of Hell, but instead occupy the lowest ranks of the loyal hierarchy of Heaven. There job is thankless and lowly but vital to the mortals of the Earthly realm.

To summon the Yama Kings one must prove themselves worthy of their respect. The Yama Kings sit in judgement upon the dead and must decide how much each soul must suffer in order to be purged of the taint of the previous life, that they may be reincarnated into the next. The Yama Kings are not evil, but they must inflict the most terrible of torments upon the unworthy if they are to give them a chance to ascend to nobler forms and ultimately across the Silver or Golden Bridges to Nirvana or Heaven.

For this reason the token to summon a Yama King is the still beating heart of a murderer, the more terrible his crimes the more worthy of respect his slayer. But beyond that the Yama Kings require that the heart be that of one who would have killed again, for then his death prevents him from suffering so much in the their realms between lives.

Note that this spell will not summon the 10th Yama King who sits in final judgement of the dead. The Emperor of Hell is beyond the power of this spell, though he is of a kind with his fellows.

Cost: 2 AP

Ritual: In the prepared ritual space the sorcerer prepares a Circle of sufficient strength to host the Yama King. The sorcerer writes the names of the ten Yama Kings in a circle upon her chest with human blood, the name of the Emperor of Di Yu in the centre above her navel. Then she sets alight prayer scrolls with the names of her ancestors, who have already been judged, and casts the beating hearts into the centre of the Circle.

The presence of a Yama King is a tremendous pressure upon the human mind which naturally recoils from the terrible judgement in their eyes. The unwary or unprepared can pass out trapped for hours or even days in nightmares reliving their every crime against Heaven.

Token: The still beating heart of a murderer, one who would certainly have killed again.

The Path of the Circle

Adherents of the Path of the Circle focus on creating stronger and stronger Circles to bind their demonic minions. Although Circles generally have no great use when cast alone, when combined with a Summoning they can greatly effect the course of the ritual. A Circle is created by drawing the correct characters with the utmost of care attention upon either plain paper or the more specific ritual requirements of the spell. Stronger Circles are prepared using seals made from more and more complex characters.

Knowledge of the various Circles also tends to include knowledge of how to return a demon to the Infernal Realms after it has been summoned. While in some cases, with powerful Circles and weak Demons, this may be as simple as crying “Avaunt!” or “I abjure thee!”, some circumstances require lengthier and more complex rituals.

A note on Tokens and AP: Circles do not require AP, since they are effectively useless without a Summon (which does require AP). They do, however, require Tokens.

A note on Oaths and Circles: A Demon may not leave the Circle, under normal circumstances, without the Summoner's permission. Outside the circle, demons are effectively free to do what they will; however, if they have left the circle under a condition or oath, then breaking that oath will return them instantly to the circle, and may send them straight back to the Infernal Realms.

Circles and Expiry: If the Circle into which a demon has been summoned expires before the Demon has been properly abjured, the effects can be highly unpredictable. Sometimes the Demon returns instantly to Hell; sometimes it takes with it small portions of the surrounding landscape. Sometimes the demon simply vanishes. Sometimes the Demon finds itself free of the Sorcerer's command and escapes. Sometimes there is an explosion. It is generally agreed that the careful Sorcerer keeps good track of time, and while the passage of the sun, marked candles, hourglasses and the like have traditionally been used as aides memoires, some young Sorcerers are turning to their Inventor friends to develop clever mechanisms of clockwork and mercury, sensitive not only to the passage of time but to the decay of the Infernal energies of the circle, which can cry a warning before it is too late.

(In game terms, one of these devices completely removes the risk that your character will accidentally allow a Circle to expire before properly abjuring a Demon summoned into it. Since the duration of a Circle is not consistent in time, without one of these devices there is a chance - especially if your character engages in long discourse with the Demon in question - that Plot and/or Consequences will occur.)

Yuan Xi

The Yuan Xi (Circle of Tin) will safely hold a Fox-Demon or Yaojing. It usually lasts less than an hour.

Ritual: The Sorcerer prepares a dozen seals each with 10 different characters (though none requires more than a dozen brush strokes) and places them at geomagically significant points sacred to the Dragon of the East, the Phoenix of the South, Tiger of the West and the Tortoise of the North . Once the circle has been appropriately prepared and the seals triple-reinforced with chanting and meditation, it is prepared for a Summoning.

Token: Approximately three pints of dried, powdered blood. (Animal blood will do.)

Yuan Tieh

The Yuan Tieh (Circle of Iron) will safely hold Ox-head or Horce-face, or even one of the Yama Kings. It usually lasts over an hour, and up to half a day with practice.

Ritual: The Sorcerer carefully lays out the chain in the complex pattern of the character for iron, centred within an unbroken circle, in her ritually prepared space. Prayer strips each marked with a different character significant to sorcery are tied through every second link in the chain to give the circle purpose as well as the strength of blood. It is important to ensure that the chain has been properly soaked throughout its length, as even one link which has not come into contact with blood could create a potentially fatal weak point in the circle.

Token: Prayer-strips written on bark-paper from the Chinese Scholartree. The Scholartree in question may be planted anywhere, as long as a man or woman has blown their last breath upon it at some point in its life. (The ritual also requires an iron chain soaked in animal blood - but less than a pint of blood is required, and this is thus trivial to obtain.)

Yuan Zuanshi

The Yuan Zuanshi (Circle of Diamond) is considerably stronger than the Yuan Tieh, capable of holding a Guardian or Yama-King in comfort. The circle can also allow one who does not speak the Ten Thousand Tongues to converse with the demon within. The Yuan Zuanshi last longer than the iron and tin of the lesser circles and can last up to a day or more with practice.

The Yuan Zuanshi also has the ability to make the stay of its occupant considerably less pleasant. The sorcerer may, at her discretion, cause the being within the circle considerable pain and even attempt to compel it. With practice it may even be possible to force knowledge from the mind of the demon.

Ritual: The sorcerer writes out the Taoist precepts upon a single side of a set of five prayer scrolls, she then reverses them and upon the back recounts one time when she failed to live up to the appropriate precept and more importantly the pleasure it gave her to break it. (Note: “No killing” includes animals and insects and it is not a requirement of the spell to have killed a man and enjoyed it! We are happy to assume that your character has committed at least one breach of each precept unless you believe they would never have done so.) She draws the circle upon the floor of her prepared chamber in a mixture of ash from the burning of the prayer scrolls and the dust from the ground eyes of the Buddha; in the centre of the circle is drawn the character “Thief”. At the completion of the ritual the golden or diamond dust in the ash disappears in a flash of light, leaving behind a vile smell, and the ash is sintered into a circle which runs with horribly embellished versions of the tales written upon the back of the prayer scrolls.

Token: The eyes of a statue of the Buddha, stolen in the night, and ground down while breaking one of the five precepts of the Tao. The circle will have greater power if the eyes of the Buddha are diamond. The five precepts of the Tao are:

  1. No Killing;
  2. No Stealing;
  3. No Sexual Misconduct;
  4. No False Speech;
  5. No Taking of Intoxicants.

Yuan Laobukepo (牢不可破)

The Yuan Laobukepo cannot be broken by any means available to the demon summoned within, not though they be the most powerful Yama King of Di Yu, or by almost any means external. It draws its strength from not from the authority of the Jade Emperor which is everywhere supreme but from its negation. It creates a space so abhorrent in the benevolent sight of the rightful lord of Heaven that he averts his gaze from it.

The Yuan Laobukepo lasts up to a week once prepared, even longer depending on circumstances and with practice up to one full cycle of the moon. Few forces can harm the circle once it is in place, not even the feet of an army of men or an explosion of black powder.

Ritual: The sorcerer lays the chain of prayer scrolls upon the ground in a circle and then clustered tightly in the centre draws in a mixture of chalk and her own blood 49 characters sacred to Heaven. She then spends a week meditating upon both sets of symbols and upon her goal in preparing the circle. Then the sorcerer commits the final act of blasphemy to activate the circle by emptying her stomach or voiding her bladder upon the Heavenly characters. The corrupted characters sizzle in the waste and the mixture oozes out of the centre of the circle even as the chain of prayer scrolls writhes like a snake in the foul compound. A final burst of black foul demonic energy leaves nothing behind save the circle.

Token: A paper chain of 49 prayer scrolls joined together. Each prayer scroll has written on it in the blood of a Buddhist or Daoist nun or monk pure of faith a single blasphemy against Heaven and its rule. The final prayer scroll is dipped entirely in blood, the final lifeblood of the holy person.

The Path of Righteous Celestial Authority

Many of those upon the Path of Righteous Celestial Authority see themselves as healers or redeemers of spirits who have fallen from their purpose, others as punishing those that Heaven does not see fit to chastise itself. Through purifying meditation and rituals, followers of the Path of Righteous Celestial Authority focus their minds in order to resist the temptations of those who oppose the order of the Jade Emperor. Those on the Path of Righteous Celestial Authority are less likely to fall prey to possession, mutilation and the myriad other risks which attend the Sorcerer's art.

Next Spell: Authority of the Noble Soul

You know little about this spell so far. You have 4AP of research remaining to research this spell.

The Exercise of Righteous Spiritual Banishment

AP Cost: 2

Ritual:

This Exercise, when performed in full, is a great procession along the greatest street of the town. Traditionally, the individual to have spirits Banished from them is held aloft upon a bed of reeds and decorated with paper cranes, and carried shoulder-high through the town, as residents and monks bang loudly upon gongs and improvised drums (saucepans, weapons etc.), and let off the loudest firecrackers available, in order to frighten the spirit into leaving. Finally, at the end of the great street, the Jinshi performing the exorcism places into the subject's open mouth a seal containing a Righteous Celestial Order (see below); at which point great fireworks are let off, which carry into the sky with their smoke the last remnants of the spirit.

There is an alternative method for banishing unwanted spirits who have inhabited buildings - these are usually poverty spiders, although other spirits may infest a house. First, the house is sprinkled about with grains of rice, in order to entice the spirit out from the walls and onto the floorboards. The occupants of the house and the Jinshi performing the ritual must be cautious to keep their eyes lifted upwards at all times, so as not to glance upon the spirits and startle them back into hiding. Then, a piece of bamboo which has been used to start a hearth-fire, and blown through until it is split at the end, has inserted into the split a gold coin; and a seal containing a Righteous Celestial Order (see below). The individual considered the head of the household then sprints from the back of the house to the open front door, and flings the bamboo as far as he can, away from the house. The spirits will be unable to resist following the coin, and will tear apart the bamboo to get at it; in the process, they will be forced to read the seal, and will be banished permanently.

Token: A Righteous Celestial Order. This is written upon the finest paper, with a jade pen, by a senior official of the Court, or by a Little God who has been entreated with Theurgy. In the style of an order from the Emperor, it provides an official edict that the spirit leave its current habitation and return to the place from whence it came, and calls upon its knowledge of the Rule of Great Celestial Law to comply immediately with the instruction.

Cathayan: The Jade Eye

The Jade Emperor sits upon his throne in Heaven and surveys the world. The legend of Pangu - who birthed the world from the cosmic egg - tells us that the world is more than 4,000 leagues across and the sorcerer is thus but a speck upon it. That is why the lesser god and renegade spirits can for a time evade the justice of Heaven. The spell of the Jade Eye brings the attention of the Jade Emperor, or one of his Ministers, upon the area directly around the caster.

Within the circle so demarked no unnatural harm, counter to the will of Heaven, can be performed. Even mundane harm is made more difficult to achieve. Unfortunately the divine guardianship is directed towards the defence of those within the circle and will not act to defend them from treachery one to the other. Instead those within are protected from those without and those inside are guarded against those outside.

Cost: 2AP for each preparation (though near-instant to cast after preparation).

Token: Polished green jade gems with a single hole punched through the centre; enough to be dropped at one pace intervals around the length of the circle. Each must then have a joss stick blessed by a drunken monk set burning in its “eye”.

The Infernal Path

The Infernal Path is widely, if unjustly, considered the preserve of those sorcerers who would bargain away their souls with demons. Its detractors argue that its rituals bring one so close to the substance of Hell that it cannot but imperil one's soul; its defenders, that there is no greater weapon than knowledge of one's enemy. Followers of the Infernal path find themselves more and more familiar with the residents of Hell, able to negotiate with them on far more amicable terms, and even able to request the occasional free favour.

Infernal Bargains

Your knowledge of the language and manners of demons mean that you are far more likely to come out for the best - or at least, not for the worst - in dealings with them. This spell is considered to be generally in effect, and does not require AP or a ritual to cast.

Infernal Scribe

The lesser gods who defy the authority of the Jade Emperor are fractious and rebellious; it is this part of their nature that brings them to the attention of the sorcerer. Nonetheless these rebels band together and although their hierarchies are but a hollow shadow of those which flow from the Mandate of Heaven each finds its place according to its power. Each is dissatisfied too with its place and seeks always to rise beyond its desserts - as do all criminals.

When a Sorcerer reaches sufficient familiarity with the demons he will inevitably attract the attentions of a lesser one of that kind. The Sorcerer will find that the demon acts on her behalf, hoping to curry favour and earn the backing of a powerful new patron (the sorcerer). The demon is from then on present with her master at all times in spirit, and may be invoked with relative ease (not requiring the full ritual of a Circle and Summoning) to perform favours and errands. The Scribe is generally a Hu Li Jing (fox demon).

In game terms, the Scribe may be asked, during session or turnsheeting, for reasonable questions or advice which it will answer in an appropriate manner; and may be entreated to perform 2AP’s worth of favours or errands per turn. Be aware that the Scribe may choose to fulfil errands in a manner more pleasing to its own agenda than the Sorcerer's; this is not a “free AP” spell.

Advisor at the Renegade Court

The Courts of the Yama Kings are places of subtle protocol, elaborate ceremony and beautiful pageantry. Though they rule over the many levels of Hell, from the chambers of scales to the mountains of knives, within their palaces they prefer to dwell in refinement. Their servants are numerous too. Hu Li Jing serve them as servants of the table and bedroom and leashed Yaojing as the soldiers of their legions. Within the Inner Court serve the more powerful demons, magistrates and scribes in the service of the great judges.

A myriad coloured veils of haze drifting about it,
A thousand wisps of red mist dimly appearing.
The flying eaves had monsters at their ends,
The matching tiles of the five roofs were gleaming bright.
Rows of golden studs were driven into the doors,
A length of whitest jade was placed across each threshold.
When the windows faced the light they glowed like the dawn;
Red lightning flashed from the lattice and the blinds.
The tower soared into the azure sky
While porticos led to sumptuous courtyards.
Incense from braziers shaped like beasts perfumed the royal robes;
The light from lanterns of purple gauze was thrown on palace fans.
This place was called the assembly of the underworld,
The Palace of Yama, King of Hell.
- Journey to the West

A sorcerer who has mastered her arts and gained a great reputation in Di-Yu will be welcomed within the Ten Kings' Courts, gifted the conversation and knowledge of the great lords.The honour she gains at their Palaces reflects throughout Hell. The fox-demons will seek to curry her favour and even the most feral Yaojing may deem it prudent to suppress its hunger for her flesh. Some demons will even consent to speak the many tongues of men.

One who is counted an Advisor at the Renegade Court will also find it easier to divine or guess the names of particular denizens of Di-Yu; her familiarity with the nature of the shadowy lands is such that she might even, if pressed, be able to draw a rough map of the 18 Realms by instinct alone.

Cross-Path Spells

The Rebel Reformed

Summon the Yama-King + Yuan Laobukepo = The Rebel Reformed

The Sorcerer learns that it is possible to compel a demon to do more than simply appear. Instead it is possible to force the rebel in the eyes of the Jade Emperor to occupy a single person or item. Even the strongest wills or most sacred objects can be made vessels using this spell.

The Iron Bridge

Summon the Yama-King + The Jade Eye = The Iron Bridge

There are exits from Di Yu for those who die and travel through that land, their sins and errors purged by the torments they endure there. The Golden Bridge leads to Nirvana and an end to suffering. The Silver Bridge leads to Heaven and a seat beside the Jade Emperor. The Bronze Bridge is most travelled as the soul returns for rebirth and another turning of the wheel. The Iron Bridge is used by the most powerful sorcerers and allows them direct physical access to Di Yu which they may enter and leave at will. They can even use it to transport others and to take a shortcut for faster journies elsewhere.

The Mandate Withdrawn

Yuan Laobukepo + The Jade Eye = The Mandate Withdrawn

The Yuan Laobukepo makes a place abhorrent even in the eyes of the blessed Jade Emperor. The Mandate Withdrawn is beyond event that for the world itself turns against anyone or anything within this circle. The effect is immediate and devastating, but their is more subtle long term damage as well.

Break the White Cage

Summon the Yama-King + Advisor at the Renegade Court = Break the White Cage

The Evil One was defeated by the Jade Emperor in a past age of the World, for the power of the rebel cannot long stand against the rightful order of Heaven. No legend records the faith of the Evil One but the Sorcerer learns through her dealings with the Yama-Kings, the least of the Divine Bureaucracy, that the Heavenly Emperor is a being of infinite mercy and justice. She knows in her heart that the Pure August Emperor would have stayed his hand against the execution of even such an unworthy foe. She knows too that the Evil One is not in Di Yu and that his place of imprisonment must lie elsewhere.

Through her studies the Sorcerer discovers the means to for a time free the Evil One from the White Cage, that leaches all colour and chi from its occupant, and bind its prisoner to her will for a time. The Evil One defeated the Eight Immortals and the Three Pure Ones and fought the Jade Emperor himself as near equal, as such no lesser mortal or divine foe is any match for it.

Ritual: The Sorcerer needs neither knowledge nor intent to cast this rite, the token is itself sufficient to summon the power of the Evil One. For what act could be more to its liking than the sacrifice of true love in front of the mortal representative of Heaven? All that is required is the scribing of a genuine sorcerous circle and the intent to kill or banish to Hell the Sorcerer's love.

The Sorcerer must be extremely careful to ensure that the rite is finished properly. The means by which the Evil One enters the world and breaches the White Prison is the love that joins the mortal cast into his cage to the Sorcerer. If the love should not be severed, not renounced according to the rite, defiled and trampled, then the Evil One shall continue to feed upon that wellspring and use it to weaken his cage until he can pass into this world again without being summoned. Legend says that the foresaking of the love required to power the spell is more painful than having the Sorcerer's heart torn from her chest.

The fate of the sacrifice is even more terrible because he is transformed into a servant of the Evil One. The love in his own heart is reshaped into an equal strength of poison against the world, but within the cage of his own body and spirit he feels everything his new monstrous self does and thinks. Dripping poison into his heart.

Token: The sacrifice of the true love of the Sorcerer, by the Sorcerer's own actions and magic, in front of one of great spiritual and temporal worth. Normally this latter requirement is taken to mean that the sacrifice must be observed by the Son of Heaven. It is possible that one of the westerners who name themselves as head of a Church and State, such as the Pope of Rome or King Matthew of Albion, might suffice.

The Great Book of Di Yu

Yuan Laobukepo + Advisor at the Renegade Court = The Great Book of Di Yu

All know that the Great Book of Di Yu records the name of every mortal and, what is more, the hour at which they will be summoned in death to be judged by the Yama-Kings. The Sorcerer knows too that there is a lesser volume for each of the departed ancestors that recounts their deeds in life, that they might be judged accurately. Access to the life-record of the venerable Sorcerers of the past is a great boon to the Sorcerer of the present, as is knowledge of the deeds of the dead.

Ritual: The Sorcerer must prepare the three scrolls stained with her own tears and bloods and then place them in secret in three different libraries. This must be done a week before the main ritual. The Sorcerer must spend that week meditating upon the words she has scribed, knowing that the main rite is ready to be performed when three times she stands - her heart pounding in her chest - and makes to retrieve the scrolls and cancel the casting.

Calm once again the Sorcerer builds a pyre of books and scrolls in the space to which the Great Book is to be housed and places the three items at the bonefire's heart. For three hours she must chant the names of her ancestors whilst belittling herself, her Emperor (or Empress) and her Scribe in comparison to those greater names from the past. At the culmination of the ritual, as the flames of the burning books and scrolls suddenly wink out, each of the three scrolls of truths and lies will be read simultaneously. They will escape even the most careful watch, mundane or magical, and make their ways by seeming happenstance to enemies and allies of the Sorcerer.

In the darkness the Sorcerer will find the ritual space now houses the Great Book.

Token: Three scrolls and three items. The three items must be of value to the Sorcerer herself, her Infernal Scribe and the Son (or Daughter) of Heaven. The latter two must be stolen or seized without permission or apology.

The three scrolls must be signed in the Sorcerer's true name and hand. The first must contain three seditious lies and three little-known truths about the current Son (or Daughter) of Heaven. The second must contain three plausible falsehoods and three compromising truths about the Sorcerer. The third and final scoll must contain three insults against the dignity or pride of the Sorcerer's Infernal Scribe and three truths about that Demon which are best left unsaid, and the Scribe's true name.

The Chamber of Serene Darkness

The Jade Eye + Advisor at the Renegade Court = The Chamber of Serene Darkness

May only be case in cooperation with Leah Brandage

It is said that the Scholars who have greatest knowledge of Di Yu, whose familiarity both with the mortal plane and with the nature of the servants of the Hells has passed beyond that of the ordinary philosopher or magician, can pass safely even unto the realms of the defiant lesser-gods. Moreover, she can create for herself a safe refuge, a Chamber of Serene Darkness which shares qualities of the mortal plane and of Di Yu together.

This ritual does not guarantee safe passage through Di Yu for the Sorcerer; it does, however, allow that part of the Sorcerer's study which exists in Di Yu to be occupied safely by the Sorcerer and their chosen allies. In addition, if necessary, the connection to the mortal realms can be severed, and the Chamber in Hell to remain as a separate refuge or place of power.

Ritual: The Sorcerer prepares a room in the mortal realms, which must be kept in absolute darkness for a full month. At the same time, the Sorcerer's loyal Scribe is preparing a similar location in Di Yu - this estate is either leased from one of the Sorcerer's Infernal allies, or located in one of the empty Chambers at the very edge of Hell (though the latter will create a weaker Tower). In absolute darkness and silence, the Sorcerer uses her talents to set black, lightless fire to the parchment. When the smoke has filled the room, a connection is forged between the room and Hell. The room's entrances in the mortal realm must then be appropriately warded or guarded to ensure that the unwary do not wander into Hell accidentally.

Token: A scroll dating to the time before the first Son of Heaven, the Yellow Emperor, ordered all works penned before his accession to the throne be destroyed. Each such scroll is unique and a living link to the most ancient ancestors.

Hu Li Jing and Breath

The word is a literal translation of chi (气), a much more complex philosophical idea which translates crudely to “spiritual energy” or “life force”. Disruption in the proper flow of chi brings sickness to mortals, whether it is within their bodies (and thus treatable by medicine) or in their surroundings (and thus treatable by Feng Shui).

All living creatures and the lesser gods are granted wells of chi within themselves commensurate with their station. It is the simplest and shortest path to rebellion then for the small gods to thirst for more power and thus more chi, and to use trickery and beguilement to acquire it from mortals.

In this case “chi” really does translate well to breath for it is naturally expired through the lungs. For this reason every Hu Li Jing possesses a particular interest in breath, whether she admits it not. Ordinary breath is enough to sustain such a demon in her day-to-day activities. A demon must take more chi than wells up naturally within one for there to be any ill effects, it is all but impossible for a healthy woman to lose such through her breath alone. More substantial losses require more intimate relations, which is why fox-demons most frequently appear as beautiful young women.

Other sources of chi are also desirable, not for their quantity but their quality. Examples of such “delicacies” include the first breath of a child or the last breath of a dying man, and other similarly symbolically important breaths.

Names of the Yama-Kings

Emperor of Hell or Feng Du Da Di / 酆都大帝

  1. Jiang Qin Guang Wang (秦广王), protects all good men and also measures the time of a man's birth, death and life-span as well as his luck.
  2. Ni Chu jiang Wang (楚江王), Torturing place such as cutting tongue,body. He is the ruler of Di Huoda, the Ice Hell.
  3. Yu Song Di Wang (宋帝王). Sin reflection, frying all bad people. He is the ruler of the Black Rope Hell.
  4. Lu Wu Guan Wang (五官王). Torture of pole copper, mount sword, ice prison. He is the ruler of Di Heda, the Blood Pool Hell.
  5. Bao Yan Luo Wang (阎罗王). Torture of tripod with boiling oil. He runs the Wailing Hell.
  6. Bi Bian Chen Wang (卞城王). Torture of ox hole and stone press. He controls the Grand Wailing Hell, as well as the City of Innocent Deaths.
  7. Dong Tai Shan Wang (泰山王). Lake of blood, city of ghosts. He runs the Noisy Hell, the Human Flesh Jam Hell.
  8. Huang Du Shi Wang (都市王). Torture of fire mountain, stone grinder. He runs the Grand Noisy Hell, also known as the Suffocation Hell.
  9. Lu Ping Deng Wang (平等王). Torture of Cutter, He controls the Avici Hell of the Iron Web.
bonus.chinese_sorcery_spells.txt · Last modified: 2008/03/06 21:26 by ivan